Monday, January 8, 2018

This year’s San Blas Christmas Bird Count was very successful, revealing
three new species and bringing in 33 watchers—a new assistance record.

The San Blas
Christmas Bird Count took place January 2-7, 2018, with the participation of
over 30 watchers from Mexico, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and
Italy; and accounting for 266 species and 9,591 birds on Count Day alone.
During Count Week, however, they reached a total of 285 species and some 16
thousand birds.

The Christmas
Bird Count has been undertaken since 1973 by the San Blas Birdwatchers Club and
coordinated by Marck Stackhouse—a renowned tourist guide and photographer, with
over 40 years’ experience leading birdwatching tours on the American
continent—together with the Audubon Society of the United States, where the
society was founded some 120 years ago.

Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra). Foto: Francisco García.

This year the
count took place within a 24-kilometer radius in the municipality of San Blas,
from Tecuitata to Chacalilla and from the mountain of Mecatán down to the sea.

In regards to
the results obtained, Stackhouse informed that even though the total number of
species observed was less compared to last year when they accounted for the 285
seen on Count Day and the 306 at the end of Count Week, this year they did have
a bigger number of watchers, mainly from the United States, Canada and Italy,
as well as some Mexican states such as Nayarit, Jalisco, Mexico City, and
Monterrey. This established a new participation record, as last year they only
had 22.

That fact
notwithstanding, he added, the absence of birds that generally fly into the
beach zone was notable and included the ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres), the sanderling (Calidris alba), the surfbird (Calidris
virgate), and the least tern (Sternula
antillarum). It’s possible to attribute their disappearance to an increase
in the number of tourists that visited the region within the past year and the
opening of the Tepic-San Blas highway.

Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum). Foto: Francisco García.

On the other
hand, and also due to the fact the highway actually increased the observation
area, this was the first time certain species were registered including the Mexican
whip-poor-will (Antrostomus arizonae), the
flammulated flycatcher (Deltarhynchus
flammulatus), and the Bewick’s wren (Thryomanes
bewickii).

A birding destination

The Riviera
Nayarit is part of the western migratory route for birds that travel from North
America towards the South. Some of these species are emblematic of the region,
an attraction for international tourism. In this context, San Blas has turned into
one of the most famous locations for birdwatching in all of Mexico and perhaps
in North America thanks to its different types of habitats: open water,
beaches, freshwater marshes, saltwater marshes, swampy mangroves, lowland
jungles, farmland, groves, and tropical forests, among others.

Importance for tourists

Marc Murphy, director
of the Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and the Bahía de
Banderas Hotel and Motel Association (AHMBB), pointed out that birding has
become an important promotional tool for the destination.

Colibrí Pico Ancho (Cynanthus latirostris) Foto: Francisco García.

There are
approximately 47 million birders in the United States, out of which 18 million
have traveled beyond their borders to engage in their activities, according to
the 2013 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated
Recreation.

Meanwhile,
Great Britain is home to an important number of watchers, who are people with
high purchasing power belonging to the destination’s natural market. Canada and
Italy are two other important countries of origin for birders, which makes
these Christmas Bird Counts very valuable as the largest and longest-lasting
citizen science projects in the world.

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The Riviera Nayarit Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and the Bahía
de Banderas Hotel and Motel Association reaffirm their commitment to the strategic
promotion of the destination, seeking areas of opportunity such as
birdwatching, consolidating new markets with the purpose of increasing tourism,
with the support of the Government of the State of Nayarit via the Tourism
Promotion Trust.